2015 F1 season

The FIA has accepted an entry from Haas Formula to participate in the 2015 F1 season – and is considering an application from a second team.

The new team run by NASCAR team owner Gene Haas was given the go-ahead to compete next year following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Morocco.

A statement from the FIA added they “are in the process of conducting further investigations for Forza Rossa”. It described the applications which were submitted were “of a high standard” and said the decision had been taken in “close consultation” with Bernie Ecclestone.

If both teams were to appear on the grid in time for next season Formula One would have a full 26-car field for the first time in 20 years. However the last American team which tried to enter the sport, US F1, collapsed before the first race of the season in 2010.

This was also the last year any new teams entered Formula One: Lotus, Virgin and HRT. The latter collapsed at the end of 2012 and the other two have since changed names to Caterham and Marussia respectively.

The FIA added a meeting on the subject of cost reduction has been scheduled for May 1st to involve all the Formula One teams plus Jean Todt and Ecclestone. It will be followed by a meeting of the F1 Strategy Group.

In a further development, the WMSC said “preliminary results” are expected shortly on the possibility of altering the noise of the 2014 specification engines.

112 comments on FIA accepts Haas team entry, considers Forza Rossa

Entering the sport for the very, very first time. It’s an unknown place for the owner, the team, and in recent history, the country. The sport is changing very quickly, and in 8 months, they’ll have to have a car ready to compete all around the world.

I’d be a bit (a lot) better if they accepted entries for 2016, not 2015. Because next year I’m sure of what’s gonna happen: critics are gonna critizise the newer teams for months… race after race.

@hohum@fer-no65 I agree, let’s not be so pessimistic. Admittedly the sport is changing super quickly and adapting is key. But if Haas were to ‘bomb out’ it would beef up the mid/back field and the Caterham-Marussia formula would have another factor to contend with. Some might say it will only add another backmarker, with no hope of competing with the big teams but I think the performance gap we see in F1 today is another issue

@hohum but Haas originally asked to start his team for 2016 season so they had time to build and test because he saw this process as lengthy and time consuming. He was right and the FIA want him to start in 2015

I’d rather read the official statement from BMW than going on some blog that is not officially affiliated at all with the company. The post basically only says this about the so called denial:

To put the fires away and suppress any future rumors, BMW spokesman Joerg Kottmeier denied the rumors and said that nothing has changed in the strategic plans of BMW Motorsport.

Now it would be interesting to know what the BMW spokesman actually said. Did he say “No, we’re not going to do this”, or did he just say that the strategy hasn’t changed? The blog doesn’t quote any official statement either way.

@spoutnik – This is purely a guess but what about BMW taking over Lotus? The team is struggling at the moment but if they got some money behind them, the guys at Enstone have a proven record. Take over soon, spend the year as a test to design next year’s car whilst ensuring you get decent engines – perhaps Honda?

@magillagorilla Right. Cosworth opened a new office in Detroit and had designed an engine for the new regulations, so the parts fit. One of Cosworth’s reasons for leaving F1 was a lack of OEM support, so we might see the return of Ford-labeled Cosworth engines.

So we have turbo engines, Honda is coming back to work with McLaren, Ferrari making rubbish cars, and Cosworth attempting to stage a comeback. It might not be as wild as he 1980s, but…

No they did not. This story gets repeated all over and it’s simply not true.Kalkhoeven put out a story thru his buddies at Racecar-Engineering to drum up interest in his out-of-seriuos-motorsport-conract Cosworth so that the brand wouldn’t die. Cosworth designed a straight line4 cylinder way back before the V6 was decided as the only configuration to be used. The PURE- project died on that little late arrived detail as well. There are some beautiful renderings of a current spec Cosworth floating about, but a real power unit with all the trimmings, never been built.

Yeah, but… They fill grid spots for other possible F1 teams. And their destiny is to always remain a midfield team or backmarkers. They’ll never be anywhere near the top. Even if they remain in F1 for 100 more years (yeah there’s the case of 2008, but does anyone think that will happen again?) . Also, I hate them because it’s like there are 4 team mates on the same track. I remember cursing like a madman where in the latter stages of 2012 the STRs where just letting Vettel past like the latter was lapping some backmarkers…

@nickf12013 – I agree in that the senior team is then obliged to justify its investment by promoting a driver from the junior team, not simply the best driver available, as we saw with Ricciardo being chosen over Raikkonen to replace Webber last year. That said, such teams are part of structures designed to help young drivers without sponsorship, like Vettel, Hamilton, Ricciardo and Magnussen, find a footing in F1, so if short sighted driver signing are the cost of a system that gets the real talent up the ladder, then I’m wholly in favour.

I expect either Marussia or Sauber to turn into that. Sauber has already housed Massa and Perez, who knows. I wouldnt rule out Mclaren, Mercedes or Ferrari creating junior teams. Assuming no one would buy those teams, thats a half decent way of keeping a healthy field, while ensuring young drivers can have better chances without sponsorship.

If the cost reduction doesn’t go through, I expect a repeat of US F1… Bernie & co will milk the publicity of a potential American team for all it’s worth, but in the end, there still won’t be an American team.

The biggest problem with USF1 was Anderson being convinced that designing and building their own chassis in-house was their best bet instead of going with Dallara like Windsor wanted. That and many other issues including funding (equally a big issue). Haas seems to recognise this by going with Dallara initially and has his massive company to work with not to mention he will have other notable contacts for funding given his status in US Motorsport.

Not to mention that Haas has a documented, multi-decade, multi-billion dollar track record of success as a team owner and entrepreneur, while Peter Windsor had a track record of success as…a very creepy journalist and ineffective team official.

Peter Windsor is a legend in my book can’t knock the guy for his hard work and passion for information on F1, his YouTube channel often has been invaluable to me over winter testing and the start to these new regulations, and if you get the chance to meet him in person you won’t meet a nicer guy.
You find him creepy? Yet prefer EJ ? Lol

Marussia are the main ones under threat right now I think. Marussia motors have folded, which means they have lost the majority of their backing – and considering they already had a budget much smaller than that of Caterham if I am not mistaken, they are in a perilous situation should they be unable to find a new owner.

Which I suppose opens up the possibility of Forza Rossa buying out Marussia – they already being supplied by Ferrari engines.

Caterham are an odd case: I feel that they have the most secure infrastructure of the two remaining new teams and seem to have not struggled too much in attracting sponsorship (having technical partnerships with Airbus and GE Aviation), but according to their owner are the most under threat. It seems strange that what appear to be a relatively secure team, who albeit are struggling with getting a handle on the reliability of their car, are facing the door. Sure, they have failed to taste success, but they aren’t fundamentally a bad team. They are certainly far more successful than Simtek or Pacific GP.

Whilst it’s good news I can’t help feeling that 2015 is going to be too soon for both teams, more so Forza Rossa if the deal isn’t yet finalised. They’ve basically got 9-10 months to design and build a car, even partnering with Dallara won’t make it easy, HRT ran a Dallara chassis remember. And who will supply them with engines? If Cosworth can get their design in to production they could be branded Ford for the US connection I guess.

One benefit Haas have is that Gene owns a wind tunnel which the team will be able to utilise to develop the Dallara chassis and then design their own for further seasons.

Honda will supply the engines as it’s not true that they’re exclusive to McLaren, for they are building a production and support facility that is simply far, far too big based not just on square footage/area but also on the projected energy consumption (and the infrastructure updates requested to facilitate this) to be dedicated to supply and servicing one team only.

Great to see a team from US joining F1 finally. Hope both drivers will be Americans and the final name of the team won’t be Forza Rossa ! I’d like to see an american team as much as possible. Also, hope they’ll start with a Honda engine, but would have been really cool to see an american engine installed in the car.

Got to agree with the US location factor. F1 – whether we like it or not – is a European-based sport. All the major suppliers to the teams are British, the majority of the workforce originate from Europe and for convenience’s sake it is far easier to participate in tests if you are based in Central Europe.

Of course, it would be excellent if they could establish themselves in the USA as it would truly globalise the sport and inject some diversity – but I imagine it may turn out to be a stumbling block (at least initially).

@vettel1
I think a US location is only impractical when it comes to the logistics (although if you have 4 races in north America it might help.)

Dont forget that the US is quite a big country, and they have a lot of motorsport subcontractor and suppliers. I would say, having been there working with motorsport, that basing yourself in or close to Indianapolis would give you just as good a spot as basing yourself in the West-Midlands. Less so if they stick with their Charlotte, SC, location but still comparable.

As to the staff situation, I think most of the staff is European in F1, simply because F1 is in Europe. The US has enough qualified engineers, mechanichs, strategists and so on to supply a complete F1 team. Also getting a lot of european staff, wouldnt be easy, with the braindead american immigration law.